Meet Harold.
A week ago I had never heard of "Hide the Pain Harold" and now I can't get enough of him!
I’ll put the video of his story below but will recap “Harold’s ” story in bullet points in case you’re skimming.
- “Harold”, or sometimes referred to as “Maurice”, is really András Arató.
- András was approached by an American photographer who wanted to use his image for various stock photos.
- András agreed to be photographed and gave consent for his pictures to be used.
- The photographer took many pictures of András posing as a variety of professionals: doctor, lawyer, office worker, CEO, etc.
- After a few months, András was horrified to learn that was showing up as a meme.
- He tried to figure out a way to stop the memes but eventually embraced the situation and his newfound “celebrity” status.
Check out "Harold's" face.
Do you see why the world viewed him as "hiding the pain"?
According to Wikipedia:
*It’s worth clicking on the link just to see the memes at the bottom!
So why does it appear that “Harold is suppressing his emotions?
From a body language standpoint, our brain is noticing two things:
1. His smile often looks fake because it doesn’t seem to genuinely engage his upper cheeks.
2. His eyebrows are pinched together giving him a look of sadness/worry (see below).
Exhibit A
The sadness microexpression involves our eyebrows being pulled together and the “Harold” pictures often have this expression which is what makes us think he is suppressing some pain.
My FB Group member, Boglárka Simon-Hatala, graciously opened my world up by sharing “Hide the Pain Harold” with me.
She also said that,
“Memes like the Disaster Girl, Side-eyeing Chloe, or Success Kid have a lot to do with human sensitivity for body language: we can express endless ideas with a well-chosen facial expression and posture…”
I couldn't agree more.
Your co-pilot (who is now in the András Arató fan club!),
P.S.
What’s your favorite meme?
I’d love to find more great memes so please share them with me!